5.3: Rebirth
"Everyone listen to me!" Allens blazed forward, one hand on her headset, the other holding a pistol. "We need to step it up, take these adds out so we can focus on the big game!" Two scorpion-formed Ferals closed in on the Corporal, one ahead of the other. Without losing momentum, the Corporal avoided the iron claw of the closest, aiming her gun at the second as she landed on the back of the first. "We've all got Watcher energy in us - use it!" Her clip limitless, Allens ripped in to the second Feral, provoking it to strike down with its stinger, which she avoided - allowing it to pierce the back of the other.
The Feral struggled to dislodge its stinger, allowing Allens to waltz over and place her pistol on its head - shooting an energy-laced bullet that downed the creature instantly. The sound of repeated collisions forced her to turn around, where she saw Teddy barreling through the crowd - a Rykon being used as his shield.
--
Nakaja and Rem ran side by side, downing the Ferals, and wounding the Rykon. The arrival of a familiar presence stopped Nakaja in her tracks, "Oh no..."
"What is it?" Asked Neske, clearing the area around her a 360 spiral assault.
Nakaja looked at Neske with a bummed expression, "Meynaur just arrived, which means he and Nanik have essentially become useless."
Neske could feel Nanik closing in on their position, she turned in his direction, but was stunned when he raced past.
"No worries, Nakaja... Meynaur and I already worked that out - watch!" Nanik leapt in the air and extended his arm out, producing a massive ball of light energy. "Meynaur!"
"Right!" The shadow users answer was barely audible, but in the far distance, both women could see him taking the same position as Nanik - a ball of shadow energy taking the place of Nanik's light.
The two allies released their respective blasts in unison, both taking a moment to admire the amount of energy gathered.
"Nakaja..." Neske began to backpedal, "We need to brace!" The women covered their eyes, protecting themselves as the blasts collided with one another - resulting in a massive explosion that cleared an arena-sized gathering of enemies.
"Neske, Nakaja..." Nanik shifted the girls' attention to the sky, where a few Ferals and Rykon were floating haplessly. "Some strays, do you mind?"
Without hesitation, the women shot forward - alternating shadow phases; as they shifted from enemy to enemy, slicing them to oblivion one after the other. They landed gracefully in front of Nanik, just as Meynaur was racing over. "That was a smart move." Neske complimented, "But how are you two going to keep fighting?"
"That's easy." Meynaur boasted, "Keep doing it!" With that, he and Nanik were off - heading on opposite sides of the battlefield so they could continue to present destructive problems for Kabo's forces.
--
Cazo sat on a distant rock, observing the Watchers and the heroes of the Six Realities, as they fought with unmatched determination. "This... is like the most impressive display of Cosplay role-playing." He sighed as he gazed at one of his manga comics, "If only someone in my world would think of this idea... a crossover of all the comic worlds - it'd be epic." A set of feet appeared to his right, Cazo looked up at their owner and smirked. "I knew this battle was lacking a certain sense of "cool"."
"No worries." Chris offered in response, giving Cazo the briefest of glances. Wielding dual-pistols, the silent gunner positioned their barrels toward the sky.
"What's the name of this move?" Cazo asked, his pen ready.
Chris rolled his eyes as he shot two bullets, "It has no name."
Cazo watched the bullets soar, oohing and aahing as they split in to a dozen explosive rounds each. The fiery rounds honed in on specific targets, zooming down and entering the beasts mouths'; only to explode seconds later. "Whoa!" Cazo shouted, shooting up to his feet and pointing at the impressive display of flames, "That move -- that move needs to be called "Fire in the hole"."
Chris holstered his pistols and walked past Cazo, "Whatever."
--
Kyokyu slithered from one enemy to the next, using his electrified bat to knock them in to next week. To his left, he could here, and feel, the aftereffects of Xiana's gauntlets slamming enemies in to the ground. "As long as that Toucan has the Watcher energy, I better keep my distance - I don't think my scales can handle any of her blows." Lost in his thoughts, the lizard allowed a Rykon to sneak up on him - catching him by surprise as it lunged forward.
"Whoa -- WHOA!" Kyokyu fell on his back, as he went from watching his life flash before him, to seeing another Rykon drive its tail through his attackers chest. "The hell?"
The rogue Rykon tossed the other to the side, before shape-shifting back to its original form.
"Kata?" Kyokyu stood up cautiously, eyeing Kata as the shinobi continued forward, his reaper chains laying a destructive path before him.
--
Dave stood side-by-side with Jade and Arman, the trio surrounded by a group of Ferals that were descending on them fast. Situation aside, he took the time to turn to Jade, "I don't know how I didn't notice this before," He started, kneeling in front her, "You're freaking hot! -When this is over, i'd like for you to marry me -- thoughts?"
Jade responded by cloaking herself in vortex winds, forcing Dave to shield his eyes. "W-where'd she go?" He asked as the winds faded, revealing an empty space where Jade had just been. From behind him, he could hear Jade and Arman engaging the enemy - forcing their way through the endless waves.
"Tch, it saddens me when a woman doesn't know she's in love yet..." Frank's voice was followed by his consoling hand falling on Dave's shoulder. "It's ok buddy... when this is over, she'll know."
--
Rem and Ruby stood under the protection of one of the latter's barriers, enemies trying relentlessly to break through.
"What do we do?" Ruby asked, hopeful the resourceful young man would have a plan.
Rem shook his head, "I don't know... I don't have an attack that can clear out a group this large."
Ruby tapped her feet anxiously, looking around as if an answer would magically appear. It was then that she took notice of Lucid, the wisps' glow giving her an idea. "Can you create orbs of light, ones that would float?"
"Yeah." Rem nodded, his excitement growing.
Ruby got to her feet, "Good. Can you add a homing feature to them?" She asked, cupping her hands together.
"Yup!" Rem wasted little time creating the orbs, "How many do you need?"
"Enough to fill this barrier."
Rem obliged, flooding the barrier with hundreds of orbs. The bright display caused the surrounding enemies to distance themselves, opting to wait a few feet back as opposed to dealing with the blinding light.
The barrier lowered, leaving only a circle-shaped gathering of light in its place. Then, like a school of fish being attacked by a shark, the orbs scattered; hundreds upon hundreds latching on to the surrounding beasts.
"Lotus Lore -- Exploding Lotus!" At Ruby's request, the orbs exploded in synchronized succession - obliterating their targets from existence. When the dust settled, only she and Rem remained, proud and unscathed.
"Attaching your Red Lotus' to my orbs... genius." Rem smiled at Ruby, as Lucid circled happily around Rem.
"Yup!" She gushed out loud, giving Rem a thumbs up.
--
Data paced frantically through the main hall of Haven, constantly adjusting her stray hairs as she eyed the bevy of confusing numbers and formulas on her tablet screen. "This isn't good... this is real bad!"
"What is it?" Sara asked, racing over to see what was going on.
"These numbers... what they mean..." Data continued to ramble, ignoring Sara's presence.
"Hey!" Sara clutched Data by the shoulders, forcing her to focus. "What is going on?"
"Do you remember before Kabo arrived, when I discovered that the Watchers and Corruptions had a link?" Data asked in rushed speak.
Sara shook her head, "Yea, yea... what of it?"
"Well, after that; we saw the whole thing with Hassigo and Harport, and I brought up that if the connection between Watcher and Corruption was so close, then it may be possible for the Corruption essence to choose a new host in the same manner that Hassigo's chose Harport."
"Is that happening?" Sara's anticipation grew, she unknowingly tightened her grip on Data, forcing the young scientist to screech in pain. "I'm so sorry!"
"It's fine." Data adjusted her coat and continued, "What's happening now, I fear, is worse. I programmed my system to identify each Watcher and Corruption by a serial number, with the difference being one digit in most cases. When Harport became a Watcher, he adopted Hassigo's code... it didn't change, which meant that the Watcher source was a constant - meaning the individual it chose didn't have any influence over its base."
Sara looked slightly confused, "Meaning?"
"Meaning, the Watcher essence, or source, is made up of the previous generations knowledge and power -- meaning the individual retains their personality, but inherits the necessary data to undergo the transformation."
"Data, what does this have to do with the Corruption essence?"
Data stood silent for a moment, taking a deep breathe before concluding her explanation. "The Corruption essence, the source code... it's changing. But it isn't changing randomly... all eleven essences are adopting one code... Kabo's."
"T-that can't be... that means..." Sara was flustered, her face flush with fear as she fell to her knees.
"Yes." Data confirmed, "If my theory is correct, the Corruption essences haven't chosen a new host... they're returning to their creator. Kabo... the Corruptions... they were simply extensions of his powers - his abilities split in to eleven beings. Everyone has been fighting him, and struggling... yet he's only at 1/12 of his actual strength...."
"Can we stop it?"
Data looked down at her tablet for a moment, "No," She answered, looking at Sara with a solemn expression, "They've already converged with him... Kabo is whole again."
--
Kiano, along with the other Watchers, continued to breeze past the army of Ferals and Rykon - taking the occasional moment to admire the effort of their respective Reality heroes. But just as the moment seemed to be at a high point, it plummeted with the sudden eradication of every single one of Kabo's beasts. "Hm..." Kiano looked over the battlefield, sharing the same puzzled expression as every one of his allies.
From the newly brought upon silence; came the crazed laugh of Kabo - the eerie sound bringing everyone's attention to him.
"T-that doesn't look like Kabo." Jasper clutched her blades tightly, looking over at Thomas for confirmation - of which he could only respond with wary eyes.
Heavily outnumbered, the Corruption ran his eyes along the field. "Now then... who was the one who hit me with that attack?"
Misty inched over to Shio, "I sense two of him, one is off in the distance!"
"Aika...?" Shio said, surprised by what Misty told him.
"Heh, it was you..." Kabo shifted his gaze to the alleged culprit, pointing a finger at them. "And even if it wasn't -- you're going to die either way." A gleam was one of two visible clues that an attack had occurred, the other, was the pained gasp of the individual that was struck. Kabo was whole once more -- his first victim of this final battle, claimed.